Beyond the Northern Lights
by Steefwaterbutter
Summary: Ever wondered how Colm and Emma managed to get to North of North? What happened after "Valkerist's Flight"? Where Soot came from? You will find the answers, and much more, here.
1. Some backround info

This is so for the people who haven't read "Valkerist's Flight".

Emma is a girl who's parents died in a car crash. Because of this she has to go live with her aunt and uncle and their son, Colm, on a horse horse, Dowager, becomes mysteriously pregnant and has a foal, but dies in labor. Emma sleeps in the hayloft, and one night she is woken up by a noise. She goes to investigate, and finds that Colm has been taking the horses out on midnight rides, hence how Dowager got pregnant. He makes her promise not to tell, and she makes him promise not to do it anymore. She writes about it in her journal, her ballad, but Colm comes up and sees it. He tries to burn it, but ends up burning the barn.

North of North is a magical land beyond the Aurora Borialis[Northern lights] and is ruled by the goddess of horses, named Sara, with her horse, Bella. So... a lot of horses live there. But there are also some humans, along with a group of women called Valkeries. They help protect the land from the evil wolf riders. The most important was Sigga. But she got banished from North of North. For a thousand years she and her desendants had only sons. And boys can't become Valkeries. But then Emma was born! She found out she was a Valkerie in the story, and the other Valkeries said she should come to North of North when she is old enough to become a Valkerie.  
Wings is Dowagers foal. He was injured in the fire, but Emma healed him by reading a poem that Sigga wrote. Then he sprouted wings! And Emma decided to call him Wings. Miss Bridget is the lady who owned Dowager. And she knows about North of North.


	2. Chapter 1

Part One  
Before the Journey…

Colm wiped sweat that was trickling down into his eyes and grimly dug his shovel into a pile of horse manure in one of the makeshift stalls.

'Why?' he thought. 'Why me? Couldn't Emma be at least partly to blame? After all, if she hadn't had a candle burning in the barn, none of this would have happened! She gets to be with the horses all the time, even when she's sleeping! Where as I'm not allowed within ten feet of them, at least since Dad found out about Dowager. But I wasn't even allowed to ride them before that.'

Colm angrily shoved the last pile of manure in the wheelbarrow and dumped it out. There! He was done at last. At that moment, Colm felt a strange, but compelling urge to go into the woods. He glanced around. No one was around, so he decided to go along with it and headed into the forest near his house. After a while, he stopped to rest and sat down on a log by a clear stream for a little bit. All of a sudden, he saw a black horse step forward and begin drinking out of the stream. However, this wasn't any ordinary horse. As Colm looked closer, he noticed it had pulsing orange lines all over the outside of its body, sort of like external veins.

"What the…?!" Colm gasped, and jumped up in surprise.

At the sound of his voice, the horse jerked its head up, its ears pinned back, and it bolted-straight at Colm.

Colm stood rooted to the spot with terror. He couldn't have moved if he tried.

'Oh no…' he thought. 'I am so dead.'

The horse continued to thunder towards him, teeth bared, but seconds before he would have crashed into Colm he jumped, soaring into the air with the greatest of ease, the back hooves missing his face by inches. Colm felt his muscles turn to water, then, a second later, everything went black. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground with Emma bending over him, yelling in his face for him to wake up.

"What happened to you?" she demanded.

"I, err, fell asleep," said Colm rather awkwardly, sitting up.

"No you didn't, it took me about five minutes to get you to wake up! I know you're a heavy sleeper, but it usually doesn't take that long," Emma said.

"Well then, maybe I was really tired," muttered Colm miserably. "Just leave me alone, okay?" he yelled angrily, then got up and stalking off. Emma sighed and followed. 'Typical,' she thought.


	3. Chapter 2

As Emma walked through the woodlands, dead leaves and undergrowth crunching noisily under her feet her thoughts wandered back to her visit with Miss Bridget. When she had told her how Wings had mysteriously sprouted wings, Miss Bridget had said that most people probably wouldn't be able to see the wings. Emma smiled. The best part had been when Miss Bridget had told her that she could keep Wings! All for her very own! Imagine, owning a pegasus!

As Colm walked into the stable yard, he causally glanced at Dowager's foal. He stopped and his jaw dropped in surprise. The foal had wings! Who ever heard of a foal having wings?! Colm waited until Emma had caught up to him then said cautiously, "Er…have you seen anything, um, strange about Dowager's foal lately?"

"No…" Emma said suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I thought I saw wings on him," Colm mumbled, his face turning red.

Emma's eyes widened in shock. So Colm, of all people, could see them! Who would have thought it, considering the kind of person he was.

When Emma didn't say anything, Colm mistook it for suspicion and concluded he was going crazy. He stumbled into the house and collapsed on his bed.

"What a day…" he murmured to himself. "I feel a calling to go into the woods, almost get killed by a loco horse with external veins and start seeing wings on horses. But after a day like this, I guess that shouldn't be surprising." Then, utterly exhausted, he fell asleep.

That night Emma couldn't sleep. Thoughts such as 'I'm the owner of Wings! Imagine…owning a pegasus! What would the girls at school think if I told them I had a pegasus!' [she snorted with laughter at that] or 'Why could Colm see the wings on Wings? Is it because he was responsible for Dowager's pregnancy?' and, most importantly, 'Should I tell him about North of North?'

"I'll tell him," she decided finally, and fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 3

The next morning, as Colm got up to start mucking out, he snuck a glance at the foal. The wings were still there! So, he was still going crazy. After he was done, he saw Emma come out of the house. She walked over to him and muttered in a low voice, "I need to talk to you. Alone."

"Um…okay," Colm said, raising an eyebrow.

"Then come on!" she said, began walking into the woods. Reluctantly, Colm followed. He glanced nervously about for the horse with the external veins he had seen yesterday, but saw nothing but trees and grass. Finally, Emma stopped in a clearing and sat down in the grass.

"So," began Emma, rather awkwardly. "I see you've found out Wings' secret."

"Wings' secret?" Colm asked, confused. "What are you-wait!" he squeaked. "You-you mean there actually are wings on Dowager's foal?!"

"Uh, yeah," Emma said frankly. "I put them there."

Colm stared blankly at her.

Emma sighed. "Well, I guess I'll have to start from the beginning." And she did. Colm didn't say a word during the entire thing. He only stared, which made Emma a little nervous.

But when she was finished he said, "Em, you know that day you, er, found me in the woods, welllll, I saw this big black horse with something like external veins. If ran off when it saw me thought." He didn't bother mentioning that it had almost killed him in the process. "Do you think it has something to do with this 'North of North' thingy?"

"I don't know Colm," Emma said thoughtfully.

"C'mon, I'll show you were I found him," Colm said, getting up and stretching his cramped muscles.

Emma followed him, and soon they came to the stream.

"Well, I guess he isn't here," Colm said, secretly relieved.

"Look!" exclaimed Emma, her eyes widening. It was the horse! As they watched, it stepped nervously towards the stream, its ears flicking nervously. Both Emma and Colm quickly crouched down in the undergrowth.

"He's beautiful," Emma breathed.

"Beautiful?! Are you crazy?" Colm hissed.

At this, the horse's head shot up and it stepped backwards, snorting fearfully. Colm watched in surprise mixed with amazement as flames came out of the veins, and soot flew into the air.

"Whoa, boy," Colm said soothingly, straightening up and stepping towards the horse. "I guess you just don't like being surprised, eh boy?" To his surprise, the horse lowered its head and nodded. "Wait, you can understand me?" he asked in astonishment. The horse nodded again, spraying more soot into the air. Colm stepped forward once more. "I think I'll call you Soot," he said decisively. At this, Soot stepped forward towards him.

"Good Soot," Colm murmured. Despite what he had said earlier, he found himself admitting that Soot really was beautiful, with a chiseled face and delicately formed, but sturdy, legs.

"Well, we probably should be getting back now," Colm said, turning back to Emma. Soot snorted and stepped after him, spraying him with soot.

Emma giggled. "I think Soot wants to come home with you," she laughed.


	5. Chapter 4

As they approached home, they saw a frightening sight. Police squad cars were parked around the house and policemen were everywhere.

"What's going on?" Colm gasped, breaking into a sprint.

Emma followed nervously, a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Hello," said one of the policemen, as they arrived, panting. "My name is Officer Ruben." He spoke in a dull, flat tone, and his words carried no emotion in them. "Are you the children of Morgan and Cynthia?"

"Niece," Emma gasped, and Colm nodded mutely.

"Well, I have some bad news for you. Morgan and Cynthia were killed in a car crash this afternoon."

"Wh-what?" whispered Colm.

Emma snuck a sideways glance at Colm. His face was ghastly white, and his mouth hung slightly open, looking as if someone had punched him in the stomach.  
"You two are going to an orphanage first thing tomorrow. You have the rest of the day to get packed. The farm and horses will be sold. Good-bye." And with that, all the officers got into their squad cars and drove away.  
"Well!" exclaimed Emma, in shock. "Imagine that!"  
Colm didn't say a word, his mouth open, and his eyes wide, watching the police drive away.

"C'mon Emma! We have to hurry!" Colm urged, tugging on Wings' halter. Wings snorted, and danced in the pasture.

It was the break of dawn. Colm and Emma were running away to North of North. They were taking Wings, then after stopping at Miss Bridget's house for some last-minute information, then to North of North.

"This is crazy," Colm muttered to himself. "Running away to a place we have no idea how to get to, much less if it even exists."

"Just a minute." Misty-eyed, Emma took her last look at the place were she had lived all her life, then turned away. "Let's go," she said, taking Wings.

"Hmm," said Miss Bridget. "I certainly wouldn't recommend journeying to North of North by yourselves, but under the circumstances, I guess you have no other choice. It wouldn't be easy, though. It will take weeks, maybe months. Well, you'll both need mounts. Colm, you can take Soot, and Emma, Wings."

"Wings?!" Emma exclaimed. "He's just a foal."

"He won't be for much longer," Miss Bridget said. "Bring him here."

As Emma wet outside to get Wings, Colm watched as Miss Bridget went to her cupboard and brought out a bowl of something. Its fragrant smell filled the room. Emma brought Wings inside and took off his halter. Miss Bridget offered him the bowl. After sniffing at it suspiciously, he began to eat. Colm watched in amazement as Wings began to grow. His body grew bigger and stronger, and lost its awkward, frail, look.

"How old is he?" Emma asked.

"Three," said Miss Bridget. Then she turned and handed Emma Siga's notebook and a thick, important looking book.

"This you already know," she said, pointing to Sigga's notebook, "and this," she pointed to the other book, "contains everything you could ever want to know about North of North. You can open it up and it will tell you what you want or need to know."

"Thank you," Emma said sincerely, "for everything."

"Anything for me?" Colm asked hopefully.

"A fervent wish of good luck and safe travel," Miss Bridget said, with a wink.

"Thanks," he muttered.

Note: I've **written** a whole bunch more of this story, but this is all I've typed so far. I don't know when I'll be posting more, but until then, review, favorite and follow!


	6. Chapter 5

**Thanks for the reviews and favs guys! I didn't think many people would actualy read this. :)**

Part 2

Journey to North of North…

After saying good-bye to Miss Bridget, Colm and Emma went and fetched Soot. After riding in no particular direction for a while, in order to get the horses used to having riders on their backs, they stopped in a meadow, and got off their horses. Emma got out her book on North of North for some guidance on how they should get to North of North, while Colm played with Soot, nearly getting singed once or twice.

After about half an hour, Emma knew what they had to do. Well, she didn't know _everything_, of course, but she knew enough for them to start.

"Come on Colm," she hollered to her cousin, and started to mount Wings, but stopped halfway in the process. "Colm?" she asked, as soon as he was within earshot. "Did…did you remember to bring any…food?"

"What?! I thought _you_ were the one who was supposed to!" Colm yelped, horrified. "What'll we do _now_?!"

"We'll survive, somehow," Emma said weakly. Colm rolled his eyes disgustedly.

About an hour or two later they reached a stone wall that shot straight up for at least thirty feet. Emma walked Wings up to it and placed her hand on it, whispering a few words. The seemingly solid wall separated into two parts, revealing a dark tunnel.

"What in the…" Colm started to say.

"Just go!" Emma hissed urgently.

Colm nudged Soot forward, and Emma followed. The wall closed noiselessly behind them. They continued forward until Colm saw some light up ahead. They came out of the tunnel where they saw a beautiful pond. A weeping willow as was bending over it, with several moss covered stones scattered about, and lily pads all around.

"Beautiful," Emma breathed.

"Beautiful?" Colm snorted. "What about food? Desert islands may not be beautiful but a least they have roots and berries and stuff."

"We'll just have to keep going, okay?" Emma retorted, not looking very impressed.

They soon left the lake and entered into a nearby forest. A few minutes later Colm heard heard a rather off-key voice singing.

"Ohhh, my name is Shanna,

I do as I please,

And I live on bread and cheese!

My name is Shanna..."

"Let's go see who it is," Colm urged, pushing Soot forward. Soot sorted, as of he was eager too.

Colm and Soot soon found the singer standing in a clearing not too far ahead. She ha long blond hair and was dressed in a white tunic, brown breeches and boots that reached all the way to her knees. In her hand she held a slice of bread with some meat and cheese on it. Colm felt his mouth water. The girl looked up and and stopped singing when he approached, but didn't look surprised.

"Oh hi," she said. "Name's Shanna. What's yours?"

"Colm."

"Well then, hello Colm. Want some of my sandwich? You look kinda hungry," Shanna said, handing it to him.

"Thanks," he said, and wolfed it down. Still, he wondered where she had gotten it from.

Just then, Emma came into the clearing. "I take it you're Shanna?" she asked.

Shanna nodded. "Pardon me for asking, but what are you doing here anyway?"

"We're trying our luck on getting to North of North," Emma replied.

"North of North? That's a ways off," Shanna said, looking impressed.

"We'll manage." Emma shrugged.

"No we won't, we don't have any food," Colm moaned.

Shanna played with the end of her tunic before saying, "Tell you this; I can provide you with food for the journey, if you take me with you for a while. I've kinda been lonely lately, and hoping for a chance for some adventure.

"Well..." murmured Emma.

"We'll take it," Colm said impulsively.


	7. Chapter 6

**My longest chapter yet! Here's chapter 6! Finaly getting to some action!**

**OoOoOoOoO**

Later that day, they stopped and decided to set up camp for the night. Even though it was only about halfway through the afternoon, they wanted to give the horses a break from riding. Colm arranged a ring of stones and gathered firewood, while Shanna and Emma put up crude tents by hanging blankets over the branches of trees. When they were done, Colm decided to take a walk in the woods by himself. While he was exploring, he felt a strange, but powerful urge to go in a certain direction. He started walking, then, to his horror, found he couldn't stop. He was pulled like a piece of metal to magnet until he came to a set of very steep wooden stairs. He soon found himself going up them. Up and up, on and on, it seemed to go on forever. At last he reached a stone cottage with a straw roof at the top of the stairs. Before Colm could even raise a hand to knock, the door swung open. An old woman looked out, her face filled with joy. However, her face turned from utter joy to absolute fury when she saw Colm. She grabbed his the front of his shirt and screamed, "What are _you_ doing here, boy? You're not _her_! Get away from here and never come back!"

And with that she flung Colm head over heels down the steps. He tumbled down, yelping as his body was bruised and beaten against the hard steps. Down, down, _down_, Colm fell, until at last the stairs faded away into oblivion.

Colm moaned and sat up, rubbing his aching limbs. The sun was slowly sinking into the horizon. What happened? Colm grimaced as he remembered the old woman's face as she screamed at him to never come back. What did she mean by "You're not _her_!" ? Speaking of which, why was he draw to the woman's house in the first place? He shook his head, blond hair flopping over his eyes. He hurt, all over. He felt like his body was a mass of bumps and bruises. He slowly got up and limped back to camp.

"You were gone a long time," Emma remarked as he came to sit next to the fire.

"Yeah, uh, it was really nice out, so I decided to sit down for a while and accidentally fell asleep."

"Well, I made some soup," said Shanna cheerfully, giving him a bowlful of it.

"Thanks," mumbled Colm. He walked over to sit next to Soot, who shoved him playfully. Even though it wasn't a hard shove, Colm had to bite back a yelp at the pain that jolted through his body.

_Why am I keeping this a secret?_ he groaned to himself. After he went and gave Shanna back his bowl, he went inside his tent. "It's been a very strange day," he yawned to himself.

Emma was awakened by a poke in the ribs. It was Shanna.

"Hey, wanna help me play a trick on Colm?" she asked, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Sure!" giggled Emma, leaping up.

Shanna showed her a bucket full of ice water she was carrying. "Okay we sneak up behind him, dump it on him, and run away," Shanna whispered.

"Alright."

They snuck up behind Colm, who was still snoring, and dumped the contents of the bucket over him, before streaking away to watch his reaction.

Colm was jerked awake to find his body a freezing mass of ice. He jumped in the air, yelling furiously. When he realized he was soaking wet, as well a cold, he was furious.

"Shanna!" he yelled. "Emma! What was that for?!"

Suddenly, he realized even thought he was freezing, his bruises didn't hurt any more. And when he looked down, he saw several pieces of ice on the ground. Magic healing ice? Where could you get that?

As soon as she was safely out of sight behind a tree, Emma collapsed with laughter. When she finaly managed to get a hold of herself, she said to Shanna, "We better be getting back now. Colm with be furious."

Shanna grinned. "It'll be worth it," she laughed.

They found Colm hunched over the fire, soaked to the skin. Emma struggled to keep a straight face. To her, Colm looked like an angry bull about to charge.

"What happened to you?" she asked coyly.

"As if you didn't know!" Colm exploded, springing to his feet. "Of all the rotten tricks to play…"

But his voice was drowned out by Emma and Shanna's peals of laughter.


	8. Chapter 7

After Shanna left them, Colm and Emma got along much faster because they could now fly. Emma thought it was the most amazing thing in the world, an Wings seemed to enjoy it too. It was also easier now that they had an actual map to follow, since they were in North of North. They were going to a place called Canter Hollow, which was where most of the people lived, passing all sorts of terrian, from baking hot deserts to mountains.

It was among these mountains that one day they came to an eerie-looking cave. Soot snorted and sidestepped, just from looking at it. Colm patted him and murmured to him encouragingly.

"Uh... do we _have_ to go in this thing?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah," sighed Emma. "It sure does give me a creepy feeling, though."

Colm agreed, but kept it too himself.

Emma sucked in her breath, then urged Wings into the cave. Colm followed, but he thought he saw something move out the corner of his eye. When he turned to look at it, it was gone. He kept Soot moving forward, but his anxiety increased as he began seeing all kinds of movements that would disappear if he looked directly at them. Just then, the spiders came. Spiders, the size of cats, dropped from the walls of the cave, from the ceiling, crawling out of cracks. Their jaws clacked, and they advanced, hissing, towards the horses and their riders.

"Oh my gosh!" Emma gasped.

"RUN!" Colm yelled.

Soot bolted. Colm could barely stay on him, and so was easily knocked off when Soot thundered down a narrow tunnel. He sat up, feeling slightly dazed, and watched Emma slip off Wings so he, too, could go down the tunnel. She was about to follow him when the tunnel collapsed.

"Well this is great," Colm muttered.

Emma turned to him, and grabbing his hand, pulled him up, saying, "Come on! They're following us!"

"What?" Colm asked, running after Emma down a separate tunnel. "What, the spiders?"

"What do you think?!" she yelled back.

They soon reached a dead end with a pile of rocks leading up to a light ahead. Colm and Emma glanced at each other and began climbing. Once, Colm glanced back and caught a glimpse of the nearest spider. Its eight eyes rolled and its poisonous jaws clacked together ominously. Colm shuddered and returned his attention to the task at hand. The light... it seemed so close... but yet _so far away!_ How long had they been climbing? Colm's muscles ached and sweat trickled down his face.

It seemed like hours later that they finally reached the top. Colm felt utter joy flood him, only to be replaced by horror seconds later. The opening dropped away to nothingness, a cliff. The ground looked sickeningly far away, and Colm could hear the spiders swarming up the pile of rocks, coming closer every second. He leaned against the side of the opening, exhausted._ We failed._

Emma stared in horror. "No," she gasped. "NO!" She turned and saw the spiders, now only a few yards away. "No," she whispered, taking step back, then screamed as she felt the ground leave her feet.

* * *

**Wahahaha. What shall happen to Colm and Emma?**


	9. Author's Note

Sorry guys, I know it's been a while but I've been buisy with my Here Be Dragons fanfiction. I probably will be wrapping this story up soon, I've kinda lost interest in it. To tell you the truth... I never meant to publish this anywhere. It was just a "dream movie" I decided to write. I'm running out of ideas and just don't feel motivated to work on it. Oh well, maybe soon.


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